Both have that “older” female character that has lost their spark over the years, and a younger female character making them rediscover it. In both, romance is secondary. Both have meaningful scenes, self-discovery and a touch of silliness.

Bossam is still only on episode 10 of airing, but it kind of reminds me of the first half or so of River Where the Moon Rises. While the characters of both shows have little to nothing in common personality-wise, both shows are about a princess that is supposedly dead (FL), and a man with a tragic backstory that lives in hiding (ML). There’s also palace politics and scheming, with one family in particular where the son is in love with the princess (SML). The SML seems to have a constant struggle between having to choose between his family and protecting the person he cares for, and the FL and the ML just want to live in peace but can’t seem to catch a break.

Both are sci-fi stories with Park Shin Hye as female lead, with MotA being about augmented reality gaming (that is perhaps a bit too realistic), and Sisyphus being about time travel. In both shows, the ML is a rich CEO of a tech company, who initially seem rather obnoxious and somewhat rude. Their career paths also take a turn due to similar reasons. In both shows, it kind of feels like they’re fighting a battle they can’t win, no matter how much they try. Both have some moments with a lot of CGI, as well as fighting scenes. Also, both have some very unrealistic idea about programming, lol. There are some other scenes in the final episode where the shows reminded me of each other as well, however, those would be some heavy spoilers so I will not go into it.

Both The Crowned Clown and My Country: the New Age are sageuks with incredible acting, beautiful cinematography and great soundtrack. While the stories aren’t very alike and they’re set a few centuries appart, some of the characters reminded me of each other. Both Hwi and Ha Seon, the male leads in the shows, are lower class and don’t seem to have much ambition to gain a lot of power at the begining of the show, but they’re still smart and it shows. They just want to make sure their families have food on the table and are safe. Both MLs are outgoings and kind and have protecting the people they care about as their number one priority, whatever it takes, even if it cost them their lives. They especially love and care for their little sisters. Officer Jang also reminded me of Sung-rok, both are skilled fighters that look stoic and cold, but are way too loyal for their own good. Also, both shows feature a lot of struggle for power and the throne, and there’s much scheming involved.

Both are historic dramas set in the Joseon period and that are more on the lighter side, especially compared to a lot of other dramas set in this time period (though the Tale of Nokdu more so than Queen: love and war). Both also include hidden identities. As seemingly with all Joseon-era sageuks, there is palace politics involved, however, in both cases the romance is more of the main focus of the show.

*!spoilers!*
Both also include a SML that’s planning a coup because he wants to become the king, and in both cases said SML is in love with the FL.

While I was watching Beyond Evil, it reminded me of Nobody Knows in the way the story unravels itself. Both are more slow-paced crime/mystery dramas. Both shows also revolve around one serial killer whose first case was over 20 years ago but who seemingly returned now. The leads who are investigating also have a personal reason as to why they are working on that specific case. Also, neither of the two shows have a romance subplot.

While they also have plenty of differences to make both of the shows very interesting, if you liked the pace and depth of the story of one of these shows, I think you might like the other as well.